NSTS Episode 292 - What If Richie Sambora Replaced Ace Frehley in KISS?

About this episode

The episode explores the hypothetical scenario of Richie Sambora replacing Ace Frehley in KISS and its impact on rock history.

When Ace Frehley left KISS in 1982, a lot of guitar players lined up to take his place. Many of them, upon not getting the gig, went on to do great things. Two of those guitarists were Bon Jovi's Richie Sambora and Slash from Guns N' Roses. And, Eddie Van Halen was also rumoured to be in the mix. This week on the show I consider the ramifications of all of this - rock history as we know it would be significantly different. Sambora joining KISS would have prevented Bon Jovi from becoming Bon Jovi, and "Sweet Child o' Mine" could have been a KISS song. All of the bizarre possibilities involving these guitarists and others who auditioned are considered in this episode.

People in this episode

Host: Brent Jensen

Topics covered

• rock history
• guitarists
• KISS
• Bon Jovi
• musical possibilities
• auditions

Keywords

• Richie Sambora
• Ace Frehley
• KISS
• Bon Jovi
• rock history
• guitarists
• auditions

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: KISS, Guns N' Roses, Bon Jovi

More episodes of No Sleep 'til Sudbury with Brent Jensen

• NSTS Episode 293 - Famous Lost Words Co-host Tom Jokic · April 21, 2026 · 32 min
• NSTS Episode 291 - 54-40 Guitarist Dave Genn · January 21, 2026 · 30 min
• NSTS Episode 290 - Rik Emmett AND Ian Thomas, Part Two · December 10, 2025 · 29 min
• NSTS Episode 289 - Rik Emmett AND Ian Thomas, Part One · December 2, 2025 · 33 min
• NSTS Episode 288 - Pianist and Author Catherine Fearns · November 4, 2025 · 31 min
• NSTS Episode 287 - Remembering Ace Frehley · October 28, 2025 · 39 min